


Possibly, Maybe I'm Falling for You

by iwillnotbecaged



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Fluff, M/M, SamSteve Gift Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 20:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9288554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwillnotbecaged/pseuds/iwillnotbecaged
Summary: Sam needs a coffee shop. Desperately.Lucky for him, he finds more than just that.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Landon Pigg's "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop," which seemed apt :)
> 
> Written for [totorototo-ro](http://totorototo-ro.tumblr.com) for the SamSteve Gift Exchange

Sam needs a coffee shop. Desperately.

It’s not like he doesn’t have a lot of options; this is New York City, after all. But, well, he might be just a little bit picky. He needs a place that’s busy enough to stay in business, but not so busy he’ll have trouble finding a place to sit or feel guilty for staying for hours studying, taking up a whole table with all his books and notes. It needs to have a low rumble of background noise, but not play any obnoxious music. He’d love if it wasn’t a corporate chain, although he’s willing to compromise on that one if necessary.

And on top of all of that, the coffee has to be good. If he’s gonna spend a significant chunk of his paycheck somewhere, he’s not about to settle for swill.

Okay, maybe he’s more than a little picky. But hell, he deserves nice things. He spent years in the desert dealing with sand and spiders and more than enough awful shit; if he wants to be picky about the quality of his coffee shop experience, he damn well will be.

He looks up at the sign over the door of Red Room Coffee, hoping this will be the place that will solve all of his problems. It came highly recommended from Rhodey, who had apparently heard about it from his physical therapist. It was relatively new and untested, but Rhodey had assured him that it didn’t seem likely to fold in two weeks like the last place he had found (RIP, Triskelion).

The bell over the door jingles as he enters and a voice calls out from the back.

“We’ll be right with you!”

He peruses the place while he waits, nodding approvingly at the size of the tables and the assortment of couches and chairs wedged into one of the corners. It isn’t a huge space, but whoever put it together made the most of it without creating that cramped, claustrophobic feeling he so often encountered in the city. The art on the walls isn’t really anything he wants to spend a lot of time looking at, but he notices that the pieces are for sale and figures he probably won’t have to look at them for very long. Considering how little he knows about art, these are probably masterpieces that will fly off the walls.

He’s studying one painting in particular, a seemingly random mishmash of shape and color that he can’t find any rhyme or reason to, when two of the employees finally come out of the back.

“Sorry about the wait,” the first guy says, wiping his hands on a dishtowel, the second guy trailing behind him. “What can we get you?” 

It takes a second for Sam to process the words, because the mouth they came from is _gorgeous_. Well, the whole person is gorgeous, but that _mouth_. Damn. The face is thin, but that bottom lip definitely isn’t.

He shakes himself mentally so that he can actually answer the question. “Um, what’s good? This is my first time here.” 

The guy’s smile widens, blue eyes sparkling behind the thick lenses of his glasses, and Sam is totally fucked. 

“Well, we’re glad to have you, then. We’ve got all your basic drinks, of course, but we also have this thing called a bon bon. It’s espresso and sweetened condensed milk.” He must read the skepticism on Sam’s face because he laughs before he continues. “Yeah, I know, it sounds pretentious, but it’s really good if you like your coffee sweet.”

“Oh trust me, I’ve had enough bitter coffee in my life. At this point, the sweeter the better.”

“You wanna try it, then?” The guy’s hand hovers over the register, and Sam can see the ink of a tattoo peeking out of at his wrist. This just gets better and better.

“Sure.” He leans over to look in the bakery case. “And I’ll take a banana muffin, too. For here.”

“One bon bon and a banana muffin. Can I get a name for the order?”

“Sam.”

The guy punches his order into the register and he swipes his card. “Nice to meet you, Sam. I’m Steve, and this is Clint.” He gestures to the guy hovering behind him, who just gives a small wave. “We’ll bring it over to you when it’s ready.”

Sam thanks him and goes to find a table. There are a few people scattered about, but he’s later than the usual morning rush. Thankfully he finds a place in the corner where he can keep his back to the wall and still have a view of the shop and the sidewalk outside the big front windows. He should pull his books out and start studying, but he doesn’t want to look too busy if Steve is the one who brings him the coffee.

He watches behind the counter and realizes that Steve and Clint are signing to each other. When Clint comes over with his coffee and muffin, he notices the purple hearing aids he had missed earlier when he’d been distracted by Steve. 

“Thank you,” he signs, a bit awkwardly, but Clint smiles at him.

“You’re welcome,” he answers, speaking and signing at the same time before heading back behind the counter. 

Sam takes a cautious sip of his pretentious coffee, and breathes a sigh of relief. It’s delicious. This place is perfect.

 

Sam spends the next couple of hours alternately studying and people watching. Over the course of the morning, he starts to notice a trend. A woman in a wheelchair comes through, and Sam realizes that all the furniture is arranged to allow enough space for her to move easily through the shop. A group of women with kids in tow comes in, and when Steve sees them he turns the already unobtrusive music down even lower and puts a sign up on the counter. A group of teenagers comes in shortly after, chattering loudly and Steve points at the sign and over at the kids. The teenagers quiet down immediately, and keep their voices down until they leave.

Right before the lunch rush, a new employee comes in, bags under his eyes and his empty left sleeve pinned up. Sam’s pretty sure he’s seen him at the VA before. His curiosity piqued, he’s just about to start googling Red Room when Steve comes over.

“Finally got a break and figured I’d come see how you liked the coffee. Although I’m guessing you wouldn’t have stayed quite this long if it was terrible.”

“No, it was great! Thanks for the recommendation!” He sounds way too excited and wants to kick himself for being so obvious. He aims for a nonchalant tone. “You wanna have a seat for a bit? I could use a study break.”

Steve smiles, and it’s like his whole face lights up. Sam’s in so much trouble. “Sure, thanks.”

He pulls out the chair opposite Sam and sighs in relief. Sam sees now that he has a hearing aid too, although one that’s more understated than Clint’s bright purple ones. 

“Long morning?”

“Not as bad as some. My joints don’t appreciate all the standing though.” Sam sees a shade of what might be a grimace cross Steve’s face, but the smile is back before he can think too much about it. “So how’d you hear about us?”

“My friend Jim Rhodes heard about it from his physical therapist and knew I was looking for a new spot. I wondered why he was talking about coffee shops at PT, but now that I’m here, I think I’m starting to understand. This place is super accessible.”

“Yeah, it’s something Natasha, the owner, cares a lot about.” Steve shrugs. “I don’t know exactly what her history is, but whatever it was, she gets it. She hires almost exclusively people with disabilities, and then actually makes it possible for us to do our jobs: built and furnished everything to be accessible, has us keep the music low so Clint and I don’t have to strain quite as much to take people’s orders, things like that.”

“And the group earlier?” He gestures towards where the moms had been sitting with their kids.

“It’s a support group that comes in each week. They’ve all got kids with autism or sensory processing disorders and needed somewhere to get together. We do what we can to make the place work for them.”

Sam shakes his head. “You know, I’m really glad the coffee here is good.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because this place is definitely my new regular spot, and it would suck if the coffee was terrible.”

Steve laughs, and Sam’s pretty sure it’s the greatest sound he’s ever heard. He wants to make it happen again. “Well, Sam, I’m glad to hear we’ll be seeing more of you, and I’ll do my best to make sure the coffee keeps being worth it.”

“You better. I’m holding you personally responsible.”

“Oh, that’s how it is?” 

Sam gives him his best flirty smile. “That’s how it is.”

Steve laughs as he stands up, and Sam tries not to look too disappointed. “I better get back. See you again soon?”

“Definitely.” Sam watches Steve make his way behind the counter. The new guy says something to him and Steve blushes, which just makes his friend laugh hysterically. The guy looks over and, seeing Sam watching, gives him a nod. Sam gives an awkward half wave and looks down at his books, glad that it’s unlikely either one of them can see the heat flushing his own face.

 

He starts to spend a lot of time at Red Room. Steve’s not there every day and Sam is definitely not making note of when he is or trying to learn his schedule or anything. Nope. He just happens to have the kind of brain that notices patterns, that’s all. Nothing weird or creepy about that.

There’s been plenty of flirting between him and Steve when he is working, although neither of them have made a move. Sam’s pretty sure Steve would agree to a date, but not sure enough. He only sees the guy at work; what he sees as flirting, Steve may just consider good customer service. And he doesn’t want to make things weird and have to find a new coffee shop again. Red Room’s coffee is really _really_ good.

Sam stumbles in early one morning, barely awake and disappointed that Steve isn’t waiting for him behind the counter, and realizes the art on the walls has changed. The weird abstract stuff has been replaced by a series of mostly traditional portraits. He drifts over towards one of them while he waits for whoever’s working to come out from the back. It had looked like a normal drawing from a distance, but when he gets closer he realizes that it’s actually made up of a combination of different geometric patterns. It’s seriously cool.

“You gonna order, or stare at the art all day?” Bucky, the one Sam had recognized from the VA that first day, calls over.

“Sorry,” Sam says, turning back towards the counter. “I’ll take the usual.”

Bucky rings up his order and takes his card. “You like the new stuff?”

“Yeah. It’s definitely an improvement.”

Bucky smirks at him. “Oh yeah?”

“I mean, I don’t know much about art, but the other stuff was weird, you know? At least with this stuff I know what I’m looking at.”

Bucky shakes his head, then turns to yell towards the back. ”Hey Steve! This guy has some opinions about your artwork.”

Sam flushes at the knowledge that Steve is there after all, then realizes what Bucky just implied. Steve’s an artist? Did he do those portraits? Shit, that just makes him even hotter.

Steve comes out from the back wiping his hands and smiles at Sam. Sam gives him a little wave and mentally kicks himself for being such a dork. 

“Oh yeah?” Steve asks.

“Yeah.” Bucky’s smirking again, like he’s plotting something. “He thinks the portraits are a big improvement over your weird abstract shit.”

Sam is mortified as Steve’s face falls. “Okay, wait — that’s not — I mean — Bucky, that is not at all what I said!”

Bucky’s cracking up while he slides Sam’s coffee across the counter. Sam ignores him and turns back to Steve. “I mean, yeah, I said I thought it was weird, but shit, what do I know about art? I just meant that I didn’t get it, you know? The portraits are portraits, even an idiot like me can get that.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever,” Steve says stiffly, pushing his glasses up his nose and crossing his arms. 

Sam drops his head onto the counter and groans. “Oh my god, I’m such an asshole.” He’s gonna strangle Bucky, and then himself. He picks his head up. “Steve, I’m so sorry. Really.”

Bucky butts in again, despite the glare that Steve gives him. “Don’t worry about it, Sam. He’s been trying to explain that stuff to me for years. He knows it’s weird.”

“It’s not weird!” Steve punches Bucky’s shoulder. “Or if it is, it’s weird _on purpose_. Jesus, quit being such a dick.”

Sam tries to slip away with his coffee so that he can go die of embarrassment, but Bucky stops him. “No, wait! If you want to make it up to him, you should go with Steve to the MOMA. He can teach you all about weird, abstract art.”

Steve groans, and Bucky looks over at him with a mischievous smile. “Plus then you two can actually start dating and the rest of us won’t have to watch you make cow eyes at each other all the time.”

Sam splutters and Steve punches Bucky again. “I do not make cow eyes at Sam!”

Bucky just laughs some more. “Uh huh. Whatever you say. I’ll just go in the back now and let you guys work this out.” 

He laughs all the way through the door, and then Sam is left staring at the counter in shame, alone with Steve, the man he just insulted and who probably hates him now.

“Steve, really, I’m so sorry. If there’s a way to make it up to you, I will, but if you want me to leave and never come back, I’ll totally do that instead.” 

“Do you — do you want to leave and never come back?”

Steve’s tone gives him the courage to look up. “Um, no?”

“Oh, good.” Steve gives him a small smile. “Working here would be a lot less fun if you stopped coming in.”

“Yeah?” Sam smiles back, trying to control the giddiness welling up in him.

Steve rolls his eyes. “Yeah. You’re gorgeous and fun to talk to and I’ve been waiting for you to ask me out for weeks now.”

And with that encouragement, Sam seems to find some smooth confidence again. “Well in that case, you wanna go to the MOMA with me this weekend? I hear you’re really good at teaching people about modern art.”

Steve’s grin lights up his face, even as he shakes his head at Sam. “I’ll teach you something, alright.”

Sam leans over the counter. “Is that a promise?”

“Yeah, that’s a promise.” Steve reaches over and grabs the front of his shirt. “Now come here.”

Steve yanks him in and kisses him, right there in the middle of the coffee shop. Sam ignores Bucky’s whoop from the back and kisses Steve right back. The counter digs into Sam’s stomach uncomfortably, but he can’t bring himself to care. He brings a hand up to Steve’s face and rubs a thumb across his cheek. The kiss is absolutely perfect.

They finally pull apart when the bell over the door rings and another customer comes in. Sam takes his coffee and settles in at his usual table. He doesn’t get very much studying done, though; he’s too busy looking over at Steve, grinning and thinking about where he’ll take him on their second date.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Possibly, Maybe I'm Falling for You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13267560) by [Lucifuge5](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifuge5/pseuds/Lucifuge5)




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